Talk:Yennefer/@comment-27334094-20171024092239
This is really nice comment regarding book Yennefer from Kerok90 from Witcher Reddit: Yennefer: To tell you the truth, I couldn't stand Yen when Geralt met her for the first time in the short stories. Even though she was an interesting character I hated the way she acted also her arrogance and rudeness annoyed me. All in all, didn't understand what Geralt saw in her, however, reading the books reshaped my opinion regarding her and now I can finally look under the cold surface of Yen and know there is more to her than meets the eye. Also, the most important thought that went through my head was that Geralt had always known these things about Yen. The witcher could see through her what's more he loved and accepted her for who she was. In my opinion, Geralt was able to see her true self partly because they had a lot in common. Even though they seemed to be very different I think they saw themselves in each other (they were both social outcasts with abnormally long lifespan - actually two individuals who had never experienced real love). The way I see it, before Yennefer met Geralt she hadn't had a man who really loved her therefore thought that all men are the same which is, of course, not true - she later realized it, though. As for her attitude, Yen is a very complex character which means you can love her or hate her, but you cannot ignore her. She usually provokes an emotional reaction - be it a negative or positive emotion and I believe that's what makes her character so believable. In the books she seemed to be cold-hearted and arrogant but if you dig a little deeper you will understand she was an emotionally damaged person who went through a lot of things and had never felt loved by anyone (before Geralt and Ciri). She wore this cold mask as a defense mechanism in order to protect herself from being hurt again. The problem was that she had been wearing that mask for decades and therefore needed time to take it off - not to mention she thought others couldn't accept her. Although deep down inside she wanted to be loved and needed warmth - which could melt her heart. I guess there are only a few people in the books who really knew her true self (Geralt, Ciri, Triss and maybe her former mentor, Tissaia de Vries). Moreover, as I noticed she changed her behavior towards people she liked/loved and treated them with care. In those certain situations she even showed her fun side so the readers could realize she had a good sense of humor and actually wasn't a real ice queen. I know another reason why some fans dislike her is because of her attitude. People shouldn't forget that she was an introvert and introverts tend to be distant as they don't want to reveal too much of themselves (again, this is a well-known defense mechanism). The other thing I find interesting is that Yennefer was, just like her favoruite colors - black and white, a paradox. She seemed to be cold and indifferent yet if you can read between the lines you know she was full of passion. Yen was a very passionate woman although she tried to hide it partly because that's what she had been taught by her 500-year-old mentor, Tissaia de Vries. I think Yennefer needed both Geralt and Ciri to be able to open up and also to be able to show the readers her best qualities. If she hadn't met them we wouldn't have seen what lies beneath the surface. Among other things, we learned that she would have done anything for her loved-ones and was willing to sacrifice herself for them. I would say she was a sensitive, vulnerable person. Sensitivity manifests itself in myriad ways, though. Furthermore, while Yennefer was a brave, intelligent, powerful sorceress she was also kind-hearted, caring for her family and was a very honest person as well. I would call this "brutal honesty" which some people don't like in real life, however, I have always liked this personality trait for some reason. Everyone is different, though. Anyway, many people misunderstand her (I did too before reading the books) but I think we should never judge a book by its cover. On the contrary, we should try to dig a little deeper to understand the real reasons. I know that Yennefer cannot be everyone's favourite and by the way she doesn't have to be. I'm just saying try to see the whole picture since it could help you to understand an amazingly well-written character better. :)